1990 240 DL gone haywire

signofthetimes · Post by **signofthetimes** » 01 Nov 2006, 09:43

Hi friends,
I've got a 1990 240 DL. I was driving home the other day when my CD player suddenly stopped playing and spit out the CD. It was still getting some power, so I shoved the CD back in. It played for a few seconds and then shut off again. It then started to rain. I flipped on the wipers. Everytime the wipers went up, I heard a ding. I pulled over and opened the car door. The dinger went off and I realized that the ding of the wipers was the same ding my car makes when the door is ajar and the keys are in the ignition (and at times, even when they aren't in the ignition and it just gets confused). I opened up a panel on the top of my dash and jiggled some wires. Thankfully the wipers stopped dinging (can you imagine driving an hour with the dinger going off wit every upswing?!). The CD player still did not work, and I continued on my way. Within the next hour I noticed that aside from the dead CD player and dinging wipers, I had some other electrical malfunctions. The clock on the dash stopped working, the light in the glove compartment is out, the door-ajar dinger goes off whenever I open the glove box, the dome light is out, and the power locks no longer work. What is going on? Is there a certain set of wires that connect all these things? What should I be looking for when I open that compartment to check out the wires?

-kate-

Post by **billofdurham** » 01 Nov 2006, 12:30

Kate,

I opened up a panel on the top of my dash and jiggled some wires.

It is some time since I owned a 240, and it was older than yours, but I cannot remember an opening panel on top of the dash giving access to wires. Can you be more specific?

In the meantime it sounds like your car may be suffering from a run to earth (ground) due to the rain. Have any of these symptoms appeared in dry weather?

Bill.

signofthetimes · Post by **signofthetimes** » 01 Nov 2006, 13:09

It is just a little rectangular panel that sits on top of the dash above where the CD player (formerly a tape player) is mounted. It has been a few (non-rainy) days since this happened but nothing has changed. If any water got in this could be the source of the problem, though. Thanks for the thought.

-kate-

signofthetimes · Post by **signofthetimes** » 01 Nov 2006, 13:24

signofthetimes · Post by **signofthetimes** » 01 Nov 2006, 13:26

The silverish bar towards the top of the photo is the inside arm that moves back and forth when the windshield wipers are on. I figured that because the dinger came on when the wipers went up, perhaps this arm was hitting some of the wires. I'm not sure, though, and also don't know what is causing the other malfunctions.

Post by **billofdurham** » 01 Nov 2006, 15:41

I don't remember having one of those panels on my 240, but as one ages they say the memory is the second thing to go - I can't remember what the first thing is.

I think you need to check all of those wires to see if they are being damaged by the wiper arm. They should not be that close to it so I would think that at some time somebody has been in there and moved them. After checking them and repairing any damage try to move and secure them away from the arm.

Looking at that location you may be getting dampness in and that could be part, if not all, of your trouble, especially if any of the wires are chafed.

Bill.

markvt · Post by **markvt** » 03 Nov 2006, 06:47

I'm pretty sure that the panel on top of the dash was added by someone. I have had a few 240's and have never seen anything like it. It appears to be an amplifier in the lower part of the picture. The factory amp. was mounted under the dash.
I think the other respondents are correct. You have a lot of stuff crowded into that space and the wiper arms are probably hitting some wires.
Mark